


Two Idiots in Love

by Jennajen



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Dorks in Love, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Gay, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Oblivious, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Grillby, Pre-Canon, Pre-Undertale, Reset Angst (Undertale), more to be added - Freeform, sansby - Freeform, starts as pre-undertale
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27021991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jennajen/pseuds/Jennajen
Summary: Grillby and Sans are mutually pining idiots who don't think the other would ever feel the same way. They're wrong.
Relationships: Grillby/Sans (Undertale), Sansby, alphys/undyne(background)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 55





	1. they are idiots

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Postcards From Waterfall](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28519947) by [skerb](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skerb/pseuds/skerb). 



> AHAHAHA IM OBSESSED WITH SANSBY AGAIN  
> wonderin how long this will last :)  
> I COULDNT HELP MYSELF I WANT MORE SANSBY

Grillby’s.

A restaurant, a bar. A place owned by a  _ hot _ , fiery bartender who was calm despite his flickering flames and hardly spoke. When he did speak, it was in whispered words and the crackles and pops of a fireplace.

And Sans was completely and totally in love with him.

He hadn't realized it at first. For a long time, in fact, he hadn't realized just how hard he'd fallen until he literally couldn't get back up. 

After all, there was nothing  _ in love _ about telling jokes to make the flame man smile. Telling jokes specifically chosen to make  _ Grillby _ smile or chuckle. There was nothing wrong with staring  _ just a bit too long _ at the elemental as he worked, smoothly moving from table to table and taking orders. He was a natural light source, after all, it was only  _ natural _ for eyes to be attracted to him. 

...Heh.

When Sans inevitably did figure this out, his giant fucking crush on the guy made out of fire… he already knew he wasn’t going to attempt anything with him.

Grillby was… a whole lot of things. A whole lot of things Sans was not, and could never hope to live up to. Grillby was a hot bartender, literally, but he was also one of the oldest and most powerful monsters in the Underground. He’d fought in the war, all those years ago, right alongside with Gerson and King Asgore.

He was… he was so amazing. Almost as amazing as Papyrus was, and that was a whole lot of amazing. How could Sans ever hope to live up to that?

Sans was a lazy, good for nothing depressed skeleton who hid his pain with jokes so much so that it was probably incredibly obvious. Yeah, sure, he had been a scientist in the past, working alongside Alphys and the scientist before her, but it wasn’t as if he were anything special. He barely did anything anymore. 

Sans also remembered resets, something nobody else did, and it was a  _ pain _ .

…

Resets.

Sans honestly thought they were stupid.

He hated them, really. A repeat in time, again and again, over the course of a month. Sans never knew when the reset would happen, but he knew the starting point of when time rewound.

It was always at the start of the month. Sans  _ always _ woke up in his bed, staring at his dusty ceiling, with his brother calling for him to wake up from downstairs.

…

And he skipped out on work to go to Grillby’s. 

Grillby and his restaurant… it was a comfort. It was a safety net. It was Sans’ home away from home, even if he didn’t act like it a lot of the time. Whenever time reset, Grillby's would  _ always _ be the first place he went to. 

So yeah. Sans was damn in love with the fiery bartender. The hot waiter. The smokin' owner. He was head over heels in love, fallen so hard and so fast that he knew it would be so hard to get up again, not that he wanted to.

He was in love with Grillby… and he knew nothing would come from it. It never did, it never would. 

* * *

So Grillby had a crush on Sans. 

It wasn't anything big. It wasn't like he was  _ in love _ , it was just a crush. 

A crush where he found himself looking forward to when Sans walked into his establishment. His flames rose just a bit when he did, and fell just a little when Sans left. 

It was just a  _ crush _ that had him unable to stop staring sometimes, thankful that his fire hid the obviousness of when he did. 

Red Bird teased him about it.

His crush on Sans was probably why he let Sans have an unpaid tab for so long. Again, it wasn’t like he was in love! It was just, well… 

Sans was an adorable, small little skeleton. He was hilarious, and a brilliant scientist. He was also really  _ hurt _ , hiding his pain with a mask of smiles and laughter, and Grillby wanted to  _ help _ him… 

He was so adorable, when he fell asleep at Grillby’s bar. Sometimes he was face down, arms drooped to his sides, drunk off his ass,  _ drooling _ . Sometimes, though, he took a nap… his arms crossed over the counter, pillowing his head, soft snores sounding from him that just  _ had _ to be the  _ cutest thing _ .

Sans was amazing, and his affection and undying loyalty was something Grillby found himself longing for on many occasions. He’d heard how Sans spoke of his brother, the only one Sans seemed to ever genuinely care about. He spoke of his brother with such affection and fondness -  _ always _ spoke of his brother - and Grillby couldn’t help but wish for Sans to speak of  _ him _ like that, except in a more romantic sense.

But the elemental doubted that would ever happen. After all, he wasn’t much to Sans. He was just the bartender; the one who served Sans food, alcohol on occasion, and ketchup.

So yes, the fire monster had a crush on the small skeleton, and Red Bird always teased him for it… and he knew nothing would come from it. It never did, it never would. 


	2. they're still idiots

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grillby's warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Idk how often I'm gonna post, so I figured I'd post when I was at a loss for what to write next. Who knows how long the chapters are going to be.

Sans had this haunted look about him a lot, usually when he was deep in thought. Grillby wasn’t the biggest fan of it- he knew Sans was hurting, that he had a lot of mental issues that couldn’t be solved by a simple bottle of alcohol or ketchup. Grillby tried to help when he could, but with how secretive Sans was, he knew he wasn’t going to get anything out of him - probably ever. Still, the elemental did what he could to help.

It was night now. The last patron was leaving, the jingling of the bell hanging over the door from their exit the only thing to be heard in the quiet of the night. Well, that and Sans’ soft snores. He had fallen asleep on the bar’s counter, his arms cushioning his head as he slept. His fluffy hoodie made him look so damn comfortable.

Grillby couldn’t help but note how peaceful Sans looked like this, as the elemental leaned over the counter and touched the small skeleton’s head gently. It was as if every worry in the world had just been wiped away so  _ easily _ … he didn’t have any of his fear or stress when he was asleep. It was only peace. Calm.

He wanted Sans to always be so content. 

But Grillby sighed, a soft puff of smoke settling over the skeleton’s skull, and the fire monster stood up. What was he doing? Papyrus would be here soon, and he needed to finish cleaning up.

He completely missed the little shiver of the skeleton’s quietly clattering bones as he went to the tables on the other side of the restaurant and started wiping them down (he didn’t use anything with water to clean).

Sans only woke up when Papyrus came to get him around an hour later, screeching something or other about his  _ “grease-trap of a restaurant”, _ but right now, Grillby really didn’t mind. It provided him with ample time - one hour - to watch Sans as he slept after Grillby had finished cleaning up.

…

Was that creepy?

…

_ Well _ . It was  _ his _ restaurant, was it not? Sans was the one who had fallen asleep in it. It wasn’t like Grillby was doing anything wrong, Sans just looked so  _ happy _ and content when he was asleep like that…

* * *

Sans woke up alone, in his own bed, at midnight. The calendar on the wall said that it wasn’t the beginning of the month, though, so he knew a reset hadn’t happened. Papyrus had probably just brought him home and tucked him into bed. A shame, he liked the warm atmosphere of Grillby’s.

He sat up and rubbed his skull with a low hum. He already kind of missed the hot monster, honestly. But hey, at least he wasn’t hung over this time. 

Sans wanted some milk. He sighed to himself and groggily stood up. It may have been midnight, but he probably wasn’t going to fall asleep anytime soon, anyways. And hey, maybe his brother was still up. It’d be great if he still was, then Sans would be able to read him a bedtime story. He felt bad for missing that.

He took a shortcut downstairs, tumbled into a wall, and righted himself, all before Papyrus came out of the kitchen with a gasp. “SANS!”

“mm?” Sans glanced up at his tall brother, then grinned. “hey, bro. you’re looking  _ fired up _ today.”

“IT IS NIGHT, SANS! THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!”

Hell yeah it was. “mhm? somethin sparkin’ your flames enough for you to be up this late?”

Papyrus rose a hand, about to speak, before he paused and stared at his brother. “...SANS…”

Well now Sans was nervous. It was never  _ good _ when Papyrus picked up that tone. “yeah, paps?”

“YOU ARE MAKING PUNS ABOUT FIRE BECAUSE YOU’RE THINKING ABOUT YOUR CRUSH AGAIN, AREN’T YOU?”

An embarrassed, baby blue color spread across Sans’ cheekbones as he glanced away. “ _ what _ ? what - heh - what’re you talking about, bro? i don’t have-”

Papyrus  _ nyehehehed  _ and gleefully interrupted him. “NO NEED TO LIE TO ME, BROTHER! YOUR CRUSH ON THAT FIRE MONSTER IS  _ PAINFULLY _ CLEAR FOR SOMEBODY AS PERCEPTIVE AS I!”

Sans pulled his hood over his skull as the blue color grew, the  _ epitome _ of calm and relaxed. “...y - you think…  _ he _ knows?”

“OH, OF COURSE NOT. HE IS NOT  _ NEARLY _ AS PERCEPTIVE AS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” Sans didn’t think that was necessarily true. “ALSO, HE DOES NOT KNOW YOU AS WELL AS I DO. TO ANYBODY ELSE, I SUPPOSE, YOU ARE GREAT AT HIDING YOUR FEELINGS.”

Sans relaxed at that comment, despite himself. “...can you… not tell him?”

Papyrus sighed, long and drawn out. “OF COURSE. I WILL CONTINUE DOING AS I HAVE BEEN DOING THE  _ ENTIRE TIME _ , WATCHING AS YOU FLOUNDER ABOUT TRYING AND FAILING TO CONFESS YOUR UNDYING LOVE TO THE…” He paused for dramatic effect. “ _ HOT _ BARTENDER.”

The older brother snorted. “thanks, bro. you’re the best.”

“I KNOW I AM.” He turned to the kitchen. “HOT CHOCOLATE?”

“ooh.” Sans, predictably, followed. “somethin’ to heat me up on this cool after-midnight. was just gonna get some milk-”

“BECAUSE YOU ARE MUCH TOO LAZY TO PUT ANY ACTUAL EFFORT IN.”

“-but hot chocolate sounds much better, specially if my best bro’s making it.” He winked.

“I AM YOUR ONLY BROTHER, SANS.” He was warming up the milk and getting out the chocolate packets.

Sans leaned against the wall, not bothering to help. “mhm.”

Papyrus’ next sigh was fond, and Sans was given a mug of hot coco once Papyrus was finished making it, topped with a heaping helping of whipped cream and marshmallows. It was warm. It reminded him of Grillby. Maybe that was why Papyrus made it?

Papyrus took away the ketchup that Sans had attempted to add on top of the whipped cream.

After they both finished their hot chocolates, Sand read a bedtime story to his brother before tucking him in and going back to his own room. 

Sans tried going to sleep, he really did. He got all comfortable under the covers, and he had even shed his jacket to see if that would help. Bad idea. Now he was cold and wide awake, having given up on sleeping twenty five minutes in of staring up at his wall. 

He only ever managed to sleep properly at Grillby's bar. 


	3. they're idiots again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> but hey at least they're doing something this time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just keep writing  
> it's weird having so much motivation???

Sans was back at Grillby’s bar again, and it was this time that Grillby finally noticed Sans’ staring. Unluckily for Sans, he didn’t _realize_ that Grillby noticed. So, when the fire elemental stepped over and essentially asked why Sans was staring at him, Sans was startled so badly and his flush was so bright that he fell out of his stool.

The bartender was, understandably, concerned. He bent down and raised a hand in an offer to help Sans up, which the smaller skeleton accepted - even if he was avoiding eye contact in embarrassment. Again.

Grillby thought it was cute.

“heheh… thanks, grillbz. sorry - was i staring?” _think of an excuse, quick!_ “...didn’t realize it.” _not that!!_

The other shook his head, almost fondly, explaining how it was quite alright. It calmed Sans down a little bit. Sometimes Grillby spoke in a way that a lot of monsters were unable to understand, other than Red Bird and Sans. Sans didn’t know about Red Bird, but he had made it a point to learn how his crush spoke and understand it. Sans didn’t know for sure, but he hoped that the fire monster appreciated it.

Grillby spoke normally sometimes, so others could properly understand, but he was rather quiet. He was just a naturally quiet monster, and Sans definitely didn’t mind that at all.

Once Sans was properly back in his seat with a bottle of ketchup in hand, Grillby left to do something in the back. Probably to make food.

Again, like yesterday, Sans had fallen asleep by the time the restaurant started closing, and Grillby couldn’t bare to kick him out. Instead, actually, he found himself wondering if… well… if Sans would accept if he… asked him out on a date?

What could go wrong? _So much could go wrong_.

Before the elemental let himself chicken out, he gently took Sans by the shoulder and shook him awake.

It didn’t seem to work, at first. In fact, it seemed as if Grillby’s flames and warmth had only caused the small skeleton to fall into a deeper sleep, which Grillby found to be a bit strange and… _heartwarming_. Did Sans find comfort in his heat?

…

Nah, he was probably just imagining it.

It took a couple more shakes to get Sans awake, and when he looked up, it was with the most _adorable_ sleepy expression. “mm? hey, hotstuff.”

Grillby refused to blush from a sleepy nickname. _“...I have something to ask you_.” He spoke in a quiet whisper and swish of flames, gaining Sans’ attention quicker than he thought he would.

Sans yawned and rubbed his eye socket, blinking. “mhm?”

... _He chickened out_.

“... _Are you alright? You always fall asleep here… but you never seem to get enough sleep.”_

That really wasn’t what he had intended to say, though it _had_ been a worry of his.

Sans froze, as if he had been found out, and chuckled nervously. “really? heh. uh- i hadn’t noticed.” 

Grillby was starting to think that was an excuse.

He nodded, slowly, as he watched the smaller skeleton for his reaction. “... _I have_.”

Smart.

Sans was quite obviously nervous, leaning back and scratching the back of his neck as his cheekbones tinted blue. Grillby wondered what _that_ meant. “...uh… yeah… i have… trouble sleeping,” He admitted after a minute, quietly, as if that had been hard to say.

Grillby didn’t say anything at first, merely leaning forward and gently placing a hand on Sans’ skull, as if urging him to go on. That pretty blue color came back again. “w - when, uh… when i do manage to sleep… most of the time…” Not all the time, but he wasn’t going to mention _when_ , “i uh… i get nightmares. i don’t… _like_ sleeping alone.”

The other hummed, though it was more of a murmur of flames. He seemed to want to ask something else, but whether or not he had decided against asking, he didn’t get the chance to.

Sans’ phone rang, scaring him out of whatever little daze he was in with Grillby’s hand on his cheekbone - because it had somehow slid _there_ instead of the top of his head and he really couldn’t say he minded that. The phone was ringing from his pocket, a loud, jaunty tone that Papyrus had personally put there himself, making it clear that it was him.

Sans sighed and answered, thought he didn’t put it up against his skull. He didn’t need to.

“SANS! ARE YOU AT GRILLBY’S AGAIN?” He didn’t even let Sans answer. “YOU HAVE BEEN THERE ALL DAY! I AM GLAD YOU’RE AWAKE, NOW COME HOME!”

Sans blinked, seemingly shocked by this new information. “... _all_ day?” He mumbled, astonished. Though, with how far away his phone was from his skull…

“WHAT WAS THAT? I DIDN’T HEAR YOU! COME HOME NOW!” And then he hung up. 

"welp." Was the skeleton's simple response. 

Grillby heard the entirety of the relatively short conversation clearly. It was hard not to, with how loud Papyrus' voice was. Grillby had been surprised at first to find that Sans had never put Papyrus on speaker, that was just how loud his voice was. 

"... was i really here all day?" Sans had thought that he'd only come by after work… but now that he looked back, he came to realize that no, actually, turned out that he hadn't gone to sentry duty work _all day_. He didn't even go to his illegal hotdog stand. 

Grillby was nodding, patiently and quietly, and explained how Sans looked like he needed it, so he hadn't mentioned anything. 

Sans chuckled softly. "gee, sorry grillbz…" 

But the bartender shook his flaming head. It was quite alright, he didn't mind. 

Before Sans could respond, a series of _dings_ went off on his phone. 

  * _SANS!!_


  * _YOU ARE STILL AT THAT GREASE-TRAP, AREN'T YOU??_


  * _I SAID COME HOME!_


  * _NOW!!!_


  * _I MEAN IT!_



Sans started texting something. 

  * _AND NO FIRE PUNS!!!_



Sans stopped typing with a snicker. 

  * _ARE YOU COMING HOME???? NOW!?!_



  * _oj hild pn_



  * _???? TYPE PROPERLY, YOU LAZYBONES!!_



  * _ok hold on*_



Grillby smiled softly at Sans, and Sans smiled back before he vanished into thin air. 

Then the elemental griped at himself for losing the opportunity to ask Sans on a date. 

When Sans got home, Papyrus was immediately on him with a plate of poorly made spaghetti. "I KNOW YOU SPENT ALL DAY STARING AT THAT BARTENDER OR SLEEPING." 

Busted. 

"AND YOU HAVEN'T EATEN, HAVE YOU?" 

"uh." Double busted. 

Papyrus shoved the plate into Sans' arms despite how the smaller tried to argue. "YOU WILL EAT THIS EVEN IF IT HAS TO BE IN YOUR ROOM! NO MORE GETTING DISTRACTED BY THAT BARTENDER!" 

"but pap-" 

"NO BUTS!" 

  
Sans sighed and sat at the table. _Welp_ , it seemed there was no getting out of this one. He'd have to stomach spaghetti tonight.

The next time Sans was at Grillby’s, the owner of the restaurant asked the smaller if he’d like to come with Grillby shopping. It was a weird question to ask, Sans thought, but it wasn’t as if he was going to deny the chance to spend extra time with his crush.

_Grillby_ asked as a way to ask Sans out on a date without actually asking him out, and his flames sparked just a bit higher when Sans agreed to going. Sans didn’t notice the change in Grillby’s fire.

So now they were technically _going out_ , and they were both equally as excited. Grillby was even going to close early! It was just going to be the two of them, shopping, together. 

Sans was hoping to make Grillby laugh. 

Grillby was hoping to get Sans a gift. 

They waited until Grillby closed a couple hours early, awkwardly silent around each other - despite the fact that Sans didn’t sleep and Grillby stopped by frequently. Sans hadn’t even made any puns, but whenever they caught each other’s eyes, they both smiled softly.

It was nothing. Obviously, this didn’t mean anything. Of course the other didn’t feel the same way.

Unbeknownst to either of them, they were both extremely dumb.

Once all the patrons left and Grillby turned the “ _open”_ sign’s light off, he turned with a small smile to Sans. Sans smiled back. It was awkward. Before it could get even more awkward, Grillby came closer and offered a hand for Sans to take. When the smaller gently grabbed hold of the warm hand, the elemental pulled him off of his stool and started heading towards the restaurant’s front door.

They were holding hands all the way to the small store that was run by a bunny lady, neither feeling the urge to let go and pretend it never happened. 

It was… nice.

“hey, you came from the surface, right?” Sans asked, seemingly out of nowhere, as they stepped into the little shop. He waited for Grillby’s confused, yet amused nod, before he continued, “cuz you’re my _match_ made in heaven.”

Grillby’s chuckle sounded like a swirl of wind and a sparking of flames, and Sans found it to be a beautiful sound.

The elemental obviously didn’t think much of Sans’ flirt, the smaller skeleton did it from time to time… most likely to purely get a reaction from Grillby.

  
(Sans didn’t do it _just_ to get a reaction from Grillby.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no idea where i'm going with this story  
> so im just kinda writing and seeing where it takes me  
> so please forgive any unintential awkwardness or oocness


	4. notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little piece of paper can do a lot

When they finished shopping, Sans sort of didn’t want to walk away. He kind of wanted to stay? At least for a little bit longer. It was nice, just being with Grillby like that. That was why he stayed to help put all the stuff Grillby bought away. And then he stayed to help clean up. Grillby offered Sans stay for dinner after that, so they both went up to Grillby’s apartment above the restaurant and Grillby made dinner.

It was really nice.

Neither of them were confident enough to call it a date. 

Once dinner was over, the atmosphere started getting awkward. That wasn’t anybody’s fault, they were just both too dumb to realize that the other wanted to stay the night with them.

So Sans left, and went to sleep in his own room, happy to dream about shopping dates and dinner nights.

He didn’t have a nightmare that night.

A couple days later, Sans wasn’t at Grillby’s. Today, he was in Hotland, on _“patrol”_. In reality, he was actually just at his, heh, illegal hotdog stand, selling illegal hotdogs that weren’t even actually hotdogs. Sure, he wanted to go back to Grillby’s, but after Papyrus’ late night admonishing once Sans came home from shopping with Grillby, Sans figured he might as well focus on work for a bit.

Even if he _already_ missed Grillby… well, that was why he was in Hotland instead of Waterfall, wasn’t it? Hotland was warm, even if it wasn’t the right _type_ of warmth.

Meanwhile, the next skeleton who walked into Grillby’s was not the one Grillby had been hoping for. It was, in fact, a tall, boisterous skeleton. A tall skeleton… who… hated Grillby’s restaurant?

...Why was he here??

“... _Papyrus_ .” His voice was a murmur of flames, a whisper, and it was clear the other didn’t even hear him, let alone _understand_ him. He was looking around, his skull whipping from side to side. 

Was he searching for… Sans? Sans wasn’t here.

“AH, GRILLBY!” His loud voice called, bounding up to the fire monster once he seemed to not find what he was looking for.

Grillby had been wiping a glass down with a cloth as he stood behind the bar counter. When the tall skeleton got closer, Grillby wisely set the glass down under the counter before anything could happen. He didn’t exactly trust the other to be careful.

“HAVE YOU SEEN SANS? HE IS NOT HERE HIDING, IS HE?”

Grillby shook his head, attempting to tell the taller that Sans hadn’t been in all day.

Red Bird had to translate; “He says that Sans hasn’t been here.”

Papyrus blinked at Red Bird, as if this was the first time he’d realized it. He’d never even spoken to Grillby properly before, the fire elemental had never even attempted to talk to Papyrus before. papyrus didn’t even notice that Grillby spoke, so he was shocked when Red Bird was the one who spoke up.

“OH,” Was all he said, blinking as he looked at Grillby. “WELL, THAT IS GOOD! HE’S BEEN HERE AND AVOIDING WORK A LOT, I WANTED TO MAKE SURE HE WASN’T LYING WHEN HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO PATROL IN HOTLAND TODAY!”

Oh…? That was right, wasn’t it? Sans was staying at Grillby’s restaurant a lot recently, even more than normal. And yesterday, they even had _dinner_ together. Grillby definitely wasn’t complaining.

He nodded, and with Red Bird translating for him, explained how Sans _had_ been staying later than usual. He may have also, accidentally, let it slip that he really liked how Sans stayed late. And how he _really liked_ that Sans went shopping with him, and ate dinner with him, almost as if it were a date.

By this point, most of the patrons were gone, some just finished with their food and others disliking how loud Papyrus was.

“DO YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON MY BROTHER?” Papyrus asked, blunt yet somehow _extremely_ innocent.

…

“... _Uh_ .”   
  


“Grillby doesn’t know what to say to that,” Red Bird supplied, translating his single word.

Well. Red Bird was right, in that regard.

Papyrus hummed, and Grillby had no idea of the devious plan he was cooking up inside his skull. “SO, DOES THAT MEAN YOU DO?” The monsters who were left had stopped whatever they were doing to stare because of how loud the tall skeleton was.

Not knowing what else to do, Grillby nodded, asking if Papyrus could _please_ keep it a secret.

“OH, OF COURSE I WOULD!” He exclaimed, after hearing the translation from Red Bird, “THE GREAT PAPYRUS WOULD _NEVER_ TELL A SECRET THAT DOES NOT WANT TO BE TOLD! NYEHEHEH!”

Grillby relaxed at that and gave a smile, though he didn’t even know if Papyrus saw it.

The fact of Grillby’s crush wasn’t anything surprising to the rest of the patrons, despite how he’d attempted to keep it a secret. It was obvious- in how often he temporarily stopped working to visit the small skeleton, in how he watched him fondly, or listened and laughed at his jokes in a way he never did with anybody else. Or, perhaps the most obvious, in how he let Sans rack up such a tab, or in how he _always_ had ketchup ready for the jokester in hopes that Sans came by. _Every single day_.

So yes, it was clear to the rest of the patrons that Grillby favored Sans, that he had a crush on him. And, despite how Grillby claimed it was _only a crush_ to himself, it was clear otherwise; he was head over heels in love with the small, punny ex-scientist.

The only person who seemed so dense as to not realize this was Sans himself. 

Papyrus left the restaurant that day with a pep in his step and a plan in his head.

After all, he knew now that they really were just two idiots cluelessly in love with each other.

* * *

Not much happened, the next few days. Papyrus seemed to be extra smiley about something, though Sans didn’t know what. When he asked the taller skeleton about it, Papyrus just laughed a couple nyehehs and pretended it was nothing.

It definitely wasn’t nothing. But, well, Sans respected his younger brother’s privacy, and he didn’t push.

That didn’t mean he didn’t talk about it to Grillby, though.

“paps’ been actin’ weird,” Sans mentioned offhandedly, as he swirled around a glass of alcohol in his hand. He was at the bar, happily relishing in the gentle warmth that was so prominent there.

Grillby turned his head a little, to show that he was listening.

“like…” Sans made a motion with his hand, like he was searching for words. He may have been a _little_ tipsy. “isn’t a bad weird, or anything. he seems really happy. but he’s definitely got something on his mind, y’know? and it feels like he’s planning something.” He shrugged. “but maybe i’m just seeing things.”

Grillby hummed, a faint crackle of fire, as he considered this. He seemed to get to some conclusions, but it didn’t look like he wanted to say anything about it.

…

Papyrus didn’t come to pick Sans up today. At least, he didn’t come until an hour later than he normally did, when Grillby called him to ask him to pick Sans up. When the taller brother did come, he acted like he was not at all late.

Grillby had his suspicions, and he had a feeling it had something to do with his little confession, but he didn’t _really_ want to ask.

So he didn’t.

He quietly waved goodbye as Papyrus left, carrying the sleeping Sans over his shoulder. Sans peeked an eye open and waved goodbye to Grillby, causing the fire monster to chuckle.

The same old song and dance. It was nice.

...If he ignored the idea that Papyrus was planning something, that is.

* * *

It was exactly three days later when it happened. A note - two notes, really. One went to Sans, into his mail box, that was strangely empty otherwise. The other went to Grillby, on the doorstep to his apartment, _somehow_ inside the restaurant, as if the sender had just straight up snuck in.

Grillby was the first to notice the note. He almost stepped on it, actually, as he opened the door and was about to head downstairs to set up the bar for the morning. He hummed in question and reached down to grab it, careful not to burn the flimsy paper.

It was a computer written piece of paper, most likely typed out and printed. It had full punctuation and grammarly correct words, even though Sans normally wrote lazily, but it acted as if Sans was the one who wrote it. Had he? It looked very… _formal_.

  * _Grillby. I have something very important and special to talk to you about. Please meet me at the very romantic cave system next to the frozen lake of Snowdin at the end of your workday. Thank you, Sans._



Grillby was, understandably, _very_ confused. But… at least he knew that cave system in particular was… naturally… warm…?

_??????_

_What the hell??_

Sans wouldn’t have even looked into his mailbox if Papyrus hadn’t pointed out its emptiness. Sans never really cared much for the mailbox or its contents, he never looked inside… he only did this time because Papyrus had seemed strangely eager, almost physically pushing him to do it.

Papyrus left him alone to read the note, stating that he had royal guard training to do - presumably cooking with Undyne - and Sans sighed, heading back inside. He didn’t want to read the note while standing out in the middle of the snow, after all.

He got himself all comfortable on the couch before he opened the note up and read its contents.

  * _Sans! I have something very important and special to talk to you about. Please meet me at the very romantic cave system next to the frozen lake of Snowdin at the end of my workday. Thank you, Grillby._



**Author's Note:**

> [come talk to me i lonely - AKA MY TUMBLR](http://jennajen.tumblr.com/)


End file.
